I left the North to go to University in England the early 90′s, when the only viable way of staying at home seemed to be the civil service. In the 10 years I was away I had never considered a return as a possibility, despite now having a degree, a professional qualification, and a strong CV. After 10 years I did decide to return (due to personal circumstances), however was quite dismayed to find that the possibilities in the North (and in the North West in particular) were almost non-existant – in terms of high-quality highly-paid professional positions. Over the border was a completely different story however and so it’s in that direction that life took me.

There’s been a sea-change in life in the South as people had gotten used to their kids graduating and finding well-paid jobs at home with fantastic career opportunities. This has now all gone – hence the shock to the system that is the return to emigration. However did we ever even get to this stage in the North ? Did we ever get to the point where we expected our kids to be able to graduate, stay at home, and move into good well-paid positions with great prospects ??? I certainly never felt this prospect was ever realistic in the North. This is why I believe the coverage of emigration in the South is so much more pronounced than that in the North.

Excellent topic for a thread. The above is only my personal perspective and so I am open to correction – however would be interested in hearing peoples own experiences and perspectives on what is a massive societal issue. I certainly would love to eventually settle down and live back in the North (well maybe 6 months in the North, 6 months in Spain ), however sadly I very much doubt that this will ever be a possibility.

How would I describe it – as in your comment: Victorian!

The raw data shows that the eurozone’s closed monetary system is causing contraction in one state that is equalled by expansion in another state. There are even some nice charts for you to admire. As Italy’s money supply contracts, so does its economy; and the converse is true in both cases for Germany.

Indeed, how could it be otherwise when wealth is being systematically extracted from the Italian economy in the form of taxes for repayment of socialised debt, and then exported to Germany?

But I pleased for you that you have a nice hat. I’m sure you cut fine figure with your tweed cap bobbing above your Guardian banner.

What an ever more automated society does with these people instead ,I don’t know.The problem is you have a generation of young people who have no intention of doing any “physical work”,yet there are no degree level jobs for them.

For all the talk of reorienting the economy towards the private sector, the reality is that most of the companies pointed out as the type we need are here only because they are getting subsidies from the state in various forms. We’d be better spending the money to create and support indigenous, sustainable employment instead of using it

I also wonder reading this if people who aren’t graduates don’t count towards the unemployment or emigration statistics. Or perhaps they simply don’t matter.

A “closed monetary system” is essentially one in which there is only one medium of exchange. My household is just such a system: all our income and outgoings are in sterling. That doesn’t work at the transnational level, or probably anywhere outside Economics for Dummies.

Were it so, the €zone ought to operate entirely with the euro. Except … in real life, the €zone is hardly a “closed monetary system”. Let’s take just a couple of examples:

Energy, for one example, is mainly traded in US dollars, — as of this weekend, about $98.67 a barrel of crude oil.

Then the €zone has a net trade surplus of €6.897 million as of November 2011. It has (May 2011 numbers) inward investment of €54.2 billion and outward investments of €106.7 billion. Make of that what you like; but it’s not in real terms a “closed” system.

Meanwhile, at the minuscule level, when I buy a tweed hat in Belleek (and it’s a nice hat, very warming in our current cold snap) I had the choice to pay in £ or €. Similarly my trip to Istanbul, and hotel bill, is charged to me in sterling, which is (presumably) converted to euros, which, in whole or in part will pass through AmEx (in dollars) and end up in Turkish lira.

And that’s a “closed” system?

Yip.

Congal Clean

Are you saying that players for whom their first international choice did not occur are less committed?

Is Lee Camp is less committed to the IFA because he represented England at every underage level?.

Is Niall McGinn less committed to helping the IFA team win games even-though he grew up supporting the Republic Of Ireland?